Girls, Sharing Mum And Dad and Winterwatch: TV picks

More wit and wisdom from Lena Dunham is promised as Girls returns for a second series (Picture: HBO)

TV preview: Girls kicks off its second series on Sky Atlantic, single parent families come under the spotlight in Sharing Mum And Dad, and Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan head for the Highlands in Winterwatch.

Girls, Sky Atlantic, 10pm

You’d think a girl’s spirits might be crushed by the calamitous events that ended the first series of this sharp comedy drama – but not Hannah (Lena Dunham). After the chaos that followed Jessa’s wedding party, Hannah picked herself up and wandered down to the beach to watch the sun rise, eating the piece of wedding cake she’d carried safely through it all. Now she’s back and needs plenty of gal-pal support as she juggles a brace of ex-partners: bonkers but devoted Adam (Adam Driver); and gay new roomie Elijah (Andrew Rannells, currently starring in The New Normal). Bring it on.

Sharing Mum And Dad, C4, 8pm

The sobering statistic that one in three British children grow up in a home with only one parent is the starting point for this Dispatches report. It’s presented by Tim Lovejoy, the Soccer AM host turned Sunday Brunch host, who has gone through a divorce himself. Dad to twin daughters, Lovejoy brings personal insight to the subject as he attempts to unravel both the legal and practical issues thrown up by shared parenting.

Winterwatch BBC2, 8.30pm

Animal-watching devotees Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan return to their Autumnwatch perch in the Highlands to present this colder-climes stake-out. For four nights, the wildlife snoopers will be willing Squirrel Nutkin’s relatives to do something interesting. If the red squirrels turn out to be camera shy, we’ll take any creatures prepared to play the TV game. Beavers, birds and pine martens, perhaps. We also take a look at the cute robin’s Asbo tendencies.

Miranda BBC1, 9pm

Miranda, Stevie and Tilly come over all cougar when a gorgeous doctor (Adam Rayner – hunky Aidan from Hunted) steps into Miranda’s lair to tend to her mother. Penny (Patricia Hodge) is feeling a bit poorly, so she’s crashed on her daughter’s sofabed. As it takes up half the flat, there’s not much room left for Miranda to do anything other than pander to her mother’s every whim. It’s what you might call a nightmare. No – it is a nightmare!

My Mad Fat Diary, E4, 10pm

In this painfully edgy teen angst comedy drama, Rae Earl (Sharon Rooney) is an overweight 16-year-old stranded in Lincolnshire in the mid-1990s. Just released from a residential stint in a psychiatric ward, back home she’s still emotionally crippled by fears about what people think of her. Lucky for her that she stumbles across a bunch of understanding mates – but donning a swimming costume at a pool party puts her fledgling confidence to the test.

Film of the Day: Road To Perdition Film4, 9pm

Skyfall director Sam Mendes helms this Oscar-winning crime drama based on a comic book. Tom Hanks plays against type (superficially, at least) as a Mob enforcer in 1930s Chicago who is forced to go on the run after his 12-year-old son witnesses a killing. With a cast including Paul Newman as a paternalistic crime boss and Daniel Craig as his loose cannon son, it’s certainly hard to fault the acting in this sombrely crafted tale of fathers and sons. Action fans note, the violence here isn’t the main draw – the really big guns are all emotional.